Amagasaki derailment

The Amagasaki derailment (JR福知山線脱線事故, JR Fukuchiyama-sen dassen jiko, lit. "JR Fukuchiyama Line derailment") occurred in Amagasaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, on 25 April 2005 at 09:19 local time (00:19 UTC), just after the local rush hour. It occurred when a seven-car commuter train came off the tracks on West Japan Railway Company's (JR West) Fukuchiyama Line in just before Amagasaki on its way for Dōshisha-mae via the JR Tōzai Line and the Gakkentoshi Line, and the front two cars rammed into an apartment building. The first car slid into the first-floor parking garage and as a result took days to remove, while the second slammed into the corner of the building, being crushed into an L-shape against it by the weight of the remaining cars. Of the roughly 700 passengers (initial estimate was 580 passengers) on board at the time of the crash, 106 passengers, in addition to the driver, were killed and 562 others injured. Most survivors and witnesses claimed that the train appeared to have been travelling too fast. The incident was Japan's most serious since the 1963 Tsurumi rail accident.

As of 2024, the accident remains the fifth-deadliest train crash in Japanese history. being surpassed by the Nebukawa Station accident, Mikawashima train crash, Tsurumi rail accident and the Hachikō Line derailment.